Kai Havertz lauds ‘unbelievable’ Arsenal teammate after Wolves victory

Kai Havertz was full of praise for Bukayo Saka’s performance as their two goals saw Arsenal kickstart their Premier League season with a 2-0 home win against Wolves.

Havertz opened the scoring for the Gunners before Saka’s emphatic second-half strike saw Mikel Arteta’s side stroll to a comfortable win in their first match of the new Premier League season.

In just his second start since last month’s Euro 2024 final, it was Saka who stole the show in front of his home fans, delivering a performance which earned the praise of his teammates at full-time.

‘Saka is unbelievable,’ Havertz said of the Englishman to Sky Sports. ‘There are not a lot of players like him on the planet and he is still so young.

‘He can get better. It is very rare to see a young player like this perform every week at the highest level.’

Asked about his side’s performance more generally, the German said: ‘We can be happy but there was some room to improve.

The first 20 minutes were good. We had good chances. We then lost a bit of control of the game and our press didn’t work. Always 100% we defended deep very well. We didn’t give them a lot of chances and it is three points.’

Gabriel Martinelli, the only Arsenal forward not to get in on the action against Wolves, was equally effusive in his praise for Saka.

‘We know his quality and Kai’s quality as well,’ the Brazilian told the BBC.

‘They are really important for us and we trust them and we know they can decide games in a moment.’

Arsenal travel next to face Aston Villa and Martinelli insists his side are full of belief as they begin their quest to finally topple Manchester City after two near-misses in successive seasons.

‘We believe in ourselves and we know our quality and will go for it,’ he said.

‘This is the most difficult league in the world and we know how hard it is to play against City. We have to go game by game.’

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